NASCAR Reporter Fired For Clapping At The Daytona 500

Tom Bowles, a freelance NASCAR reporter for Sports
Illustrated, was fired for
breaking the cardinal sin of being a sports writer.

The rule? No cheering in the press box. Never,
for any reason, ever. Die-hard traditionalists would have the
commandment laser-etched into diamond and mounted on the inside
of every sports writer's front door as a daily reminder.

Yet, at the Daytona 500, Bowles couldn't help himself.
Twenty-year old Trevor Bayne was holding off the #99 car of Carl
Edwards around the final turn when Bowles let his emotions take
control of him. Bayne crossed the finish line to
the roar of 150,000 fans. The kid had just become the
youngest Daytona winner ever in just his second Sprint Cup
start and it shocked the NASCAR world.

Bowles, in the press box, clapped for five seconds along with
them. Days later, SI fired him.

Bowles likely sealed his fate at SI when he defended himself
instead of apologizing profusely. Firing up Twitter, he got
into it with SI motorsports reporter Brant James and SBNation
writer Jeff Gluck:

After SI sent him packing, Bowles told his side of the
story on his NASCAR blog at Frontstretch.com. He
continues to defend his position to the death, saying in the
post, "I understand the importance of impartiality in reporting.
But last time I checked, where you’re supposed to be judged is
whether that actually shows up on paper."

Whatever you think of sports writing's oldest taboo, Bowles knew
what he was getting into by crossing into those grounds.
But the same emotions were coursing through every other media
member in the vicinity of Daytona International Speedway as Bayne
sped past the checkered flag. Bowles was the only one to
show it publicly, and he got canned for it.

Times do change, and reactions in the press box don't necessarily
guarantee bias in the writing (decide for yourself: here are
Bowles' Daytona articles for SI:
one and
two).

Bowles commendably stood up for his beliefs and challenged the
establishment, but SI's reaction was expected. In today's media,
it's accepted that many sports writers and bloggers (from tiny
local beat blogs to ESPN's Page 2) freely toss around their team
and player allegiances. But for now, you still can't do it
in the press box.